They've finally come to a town near you - LCD displays are now affordable. Their prices have been halved compared to the same time last year. And they've improved by leaps and bounds. Towards the end of 2000, they cost an average of about $1100, while an LCD display will now only set you back, on average, about $550. Entry-level models are even cheaper, costing less than $300. Some of them have even broken the $250 barrier, albeit just as sales items that won't remain this cheap for long. Interestingly enough, this market segment is no longer dominated by small-scale manufacturers. The heavyweights in the classic CRT monitor market have caught on that it's in their own best interest to join the LCD fray. So you'll find names such as LG, the driving force in this industry, as well as Samsung, Iiyama, ADI and others.

The Samsung Saga [Updated]

After this review came out Samsung responded immediately, and we believe that going forward the relationship between Samsung and THG will be more positive. We'd also like to thank the large number of THG readers who also lobbied Samsung to be more supportive of the online technology press. As a result, we look forward to reviewing Samsung products in the future, and welcome their involvement with our labs.

[Update] Thanks to the effort of you - our readers - the Samsung SyncMaster 151MP is now LCD Monitor No. 14, which was sadly missing from initial review. This update to our LCD panel review first appeared in Tom's Hard News. To get first look of articles and updates from Tom's Hardware Guide editors subscribe to the our newsletter .